This section provides background information related to the present disclosure and is not necessarily prior art.
Compressors are used in a wide range of applications to compress a fluid to a desired pressure. For example, compressors may be used in refrigeration or heat-pump systems to provide the system with a desired heating and/or cooling effect. Applications incorporating a refrigeration or heat-pump system are numerous and, as such, a variety of different compressor configurations including scroll, reciprocating, and rotary vane—just to name a few—have been designed to match the strengths of a particular compressor design with the particular system in which the compressor is installed.
Regardless of the particular application and compressor design, efficient and reliable operation of the compressor is required, as efficient and reliable operation of the compressor results in efficient and reliable operation of the system. Allowing a compressor to efficiently compress a fluid within a wide range of pressures provides the compressor with the ability to be incorporated into various systems and provides the various systems with a fluid at a desired pressure while concurrently operating efficiently.